Tuesday, November 24, 2009

This Scolopendra Morsitans crawls into this guys backpack. Scolopendra Morsitans belonging to the class Chilopoda and the Subphylum Myriapoda. This animal bites with the two fangs located on either side of its head. While Scolopendra venom is not typically fatal, it is nonetheless extremely painful. Although a bite to an adult human is usually only very painful, it can be dangerous to small children and those with allergies to bee stings. The bite of larger centipedes can induce anaphylactic shock in such people. Smaller centipedes though usually do not puncture human skin.

1 minute 19 secondsPhu Kradeung National Park, ThailandCentipede sex does not involve copulation. The male undertakes a dance in witch to entice the opposite sex, encouraging the female to engulf his sperm but in other cases the male leaves the scent behind for the females to find it later.The Lithobiomorpha, and Scutigeromorpha lay their eggs singaly in holes of the soil, the female fills the hole in on the egg and leaves it. Number of eggs laid ranges from about 10 to 50. Time of development of the embryo to hatching is highly variable and may take from one to a few months. Time of development to reproductive period is highly variable within and among species. For example, it can take 3 years for S. coleoptera to achieve adulthood, whereas under the right conditions Lithiobiomorph species may reach a reproductive period in 1 year. In addition, centipedes are relatively long-lived when compared to their insect cousins.